How to Stretch Your Guitar Strings

stretch-your-guitar-stringsOK, so you’ve just returned from your local Portland music shop and restrung your guitar with the shiny new set of strings you purchased there. You tune up your instrument and sit down to practice the material from your most recent guitar lesson. You only play for a minute, and your guitar somehow goes out of tune. So, you tune it up again, play a little bit more, and the same thing happens. What’s going on here?

Guitar Strings Stretch

One of the main causes of unstable tuning after changing strings is the fact that as you play, your guitar strings stretch. This can go on for days, and it’s very annoying. So how do you stop it from happening? It’s actually pretty easy.

A Simple Solution for a Vexing Problem

Rather than let your strings gradually stretch out as you play over a period of days, you can take the initiative and stretch them out yourself. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Grab string 6 at the 12th fret
  2. Pull it about an inch away from the guitar
  3. Give it a few tugs
  4. Check the tuning (it will probably be flat)
  5. Retune the string
  6. Repeat the process until the string stays in tune when you stretch it
  7. Do the same thing with the other strings
  8. Check your tuning one last time

That’s it!

Once you’ve completed this simple process, your guitar strings should have no trouble staying in tune, even if you’re playing hard or practicing your bends. It only takes about five minutes to stretch your guitar strings, and it will save you a lot of time and frustration later, so it’s certainly worth doing.

If you’ve been having trouble with fresh strings that won’t stay in tune, I hope this post has helped you to stretch your guitar strings like a pro.

If you’re looking for guitar lessons in Portland, OR, I’d love to be your guitar teacher. Click here to start taking guitar lessons with me.